1 00:00:00,440 --> 00:00:01,560 Speaker 1: Thank you so much for doing this. 2 00:00:02,640 --> 00:00:06,640 Speaker 2: Oh please, it's nice to not talk about few shortages. 3 00:00:05,960 --> 00:00:07,720 Speaker 2: I don't have a car. 4 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:16,320 Speaker 3: From the Australian. This is the weekend edition of The Front. 5 00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:20,880 Speaker 3: I'm Claire Harvey. Opera and ballet the most exquisite of 6 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:25,880 Speaker 3: theatrical art forms and the most misunderstood. But are they 7 00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:33,479 Speaker 3: part of the problem. 8 00:00:33,680 --> 00:00:35,800 Speaker 1: Security is extremely take tonight. 9 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:38,320 Speaker 2: I just got to mention that, Yeah, I'm told there's 10 00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:41,800 Speaker 2: concerns about attacks from both the opera and ballet communities. 11 00:00:45,040 --> 00:00:46,680 Speaker 2: They're just mad you left out jazz. 12 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:52,400 Speaker 3: At the twenty twenty six Oscars, something happened that I 13 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:55,760 Speaker 3: hadn't anticipated. The world ended up feeling a bit sorry. 14 00:00:55,840 --> 00:00:59,480 Speaker 3: I think for Timothy Shalla may a superstar actor, probably 15 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:04,720 Speaker 3: Jens He's biggest star. He was mercilessly roasted by host 16 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:08,199 Speaker 3: Conan O'Brien and various other presenters for comments that he'd 17 00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:09,679 Speaker 3: made about opera and ballet. 18 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:12,000 Speaker 4: I admire people, and I've done it myself to want 19 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:13,280 Speaker 4: to talk too, like, hey, we got to keep movie 20 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:15,920 Speaker 4: theaters alive, you know, we got to keep this genre alive. 21 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:19,119 Speaker 4: And another part of me feels like if people want 22 00:01:19,120 --> 00:01:21,120 Speaker 4: to see it, like Barbie like Oppenheimer. They're going to 23 00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:22,120 Speaker 4: go see it and go out of their way and 24 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:24,200 Speaker 4: be loud and proud about it. And I don't want 25 00:01:24,200 --> 00:01:27,039 Speaker 4: to be working in ballet or opera or you know 26 00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:29,240 Speaker 4: things where it's like, hey, keep this thing alive even 27 00:01:29,240 --> 00:01:32,120 Speaker 4: though no one cares about this. Yeah, all respect to 28 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:35,160 Speaker 4: the ballet and opera people out there. I just lost 29 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:39,640 Speaker 4: fourteen cents in viewership. But damn, I just took shots 30 00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:40,280 Speaker 4: for no reason. 31 00:01:41,640 --> 00:01:47,440 Speaker 1: There's no shot. I hear what you say, Yeah, yeah, yeah, so. 32 00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:50,480 Speaker 3: And of course he and his film Marti Supreme didn't 33 00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:54,920 Speaker 3: win any Oscars at all. Richard Ferguson is the Australian's 34 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:59,279 Speaker 3: Canberra Bureau chief, but he's also our resident high culture expert. Richard, 35 00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:03,279 Speaker 3: I need you to be the antagonist here for a moment. 36 00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:07,840 Speaker 3: Why is Timothy Shella may wrong about opera and ballet? 37 00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:08,120 Speaker 1: Well? 38 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:10,679 Speaker 2: I think Timothy Shalamy lost the Oscar because he's a 39 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:14,680 Speaker 2: muppet and is kind of arrogant, swaggering campaign and you know, 40 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:18,239 Speaker 2: bringing around Kylie Jenner and wearing suits that weren't any 41 00:02:18,240 --> 00:02:21,520 Speaker 2: good were probably why I really lost the Oscar. But 42 00:02:23,120 --> 00:02:26,519 Speaker 2: the opera and Bally thing became such a lightning rod 43 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:30,520 Speaker 2: in an industry that seems to have forgotten its values, 44 00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:34,520 Speaker 2: seems to have forgotten its traditions. This isn't just about 45 00:02:34,840 --> 00:02:37,320 Speaker 2: bally and opera. There are movie stars out there Claire 46 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:40,120 Speaker 2: who don't know who Elizabeth Taylor. They don't know who 47 00:02:40,160 --> 00:02:43,160 Speaker 2: Richard Burton are. They don't know who Catherine Hepburn or 48 00:02:43,720 --> 00:02:47,600 Speaker 2: Clark Gable or Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacallar. So how 49 00:02:47,639 --> 00:02:52,040 Speaker 2: on earth would they be expected to know who Maria kallisis. 50 00:02:52,160 --> 00:02:54,920 Speaker 3: The interesting thing about Timothy shall May is that he 51 00:02:55,280 --> 00:02:58,080 Speaker 3: is the ultimate fad a kid. He grew up in 52 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:00,720 Speaker 3: a New York building full of dances and actors. His 53 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:03,520 Speaker 3: mother was a ballet dancer, so is his sister. He 54 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:06,160 Speaker 3: went to the high school that's in the musical fame. 55 00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:10,040 Speaker 3: You know, this is his world. And in this very 56 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:12,600 Speaker 3: kind of casual comment where he said I don't want 57 00:03:12,639 --> 00:03:15,480 Speaker 3: to be defending an art form that is dying or 58 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:18,480 Speaker 3: that is on life support, he enraged the rest of 59 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:21,079 Speaker 3: the opera in ballet community, who I think felt like 60 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:24,160 Speaker 3: they've been betrayed by one of their own right unbelievable. 61 00:03:24,280 --> 00:03:26,040 Speaker 2: I mean, you could not if you're a sort of 62 00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:28,000 Speaker 2: a person who's interested in arts and culture. You have 63 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:31,160 Speaker 2: a tech talker and Instagram. Every single tech talk and 64 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:34,679 Speaker 2: Instagram that was coming up in my feed was Balle's. 65 00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:41,440 Speaker 2: Ballet dancers, opera singers are creatives just absolutely venting absolute read. 66 00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:45,000 Speaker 1: Some mate, you're pingpool film ain going to outlift the 67 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:48,080 Speaker 1: opera and ballet darling. All right, so let's rabau. 68 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:52,279 Speaker 2: You know, it was kind of colleidoscopic and it's stupidity 69 00:03:52,320 --> 00:03:54,160 Speaker 2: and in sensitivity. 70 00:03:53,640 --> 00:03:56,200 Speaker 1: Ballet and opera art forms they have carried. 71 00:03:56,040 --> 00:04:00,640 Speaker 4: Culture, storytelling and human expression for a generation. Really, think 72 00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:03,240 Speaker 4: about if people are going to be watching Wanka in 73 00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:07,600 Speaker 4: four hundred years. It is clear that opera and ballet 74 00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:08,800 Speaker 4: have defeated timotheyha. 75 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:15,800 Speaker 2: I think there's a couple of things about this. Number 76 00:04:15,800 --> 00:04:19,120 Speaker 2: one bally and opera is they're so difficult to do. 77 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:23,120 Speaker 2: There's such hone skills. Quite frankly, it's a lot harder 78 00:04:23,400 --> 00:04:25,560 Speaker 2: to be a really good ballet dancer or a really 79 00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:27,520 Speaker 2: good opera singer than it is to be an actor, 80 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:31,640 Speaker 2: especially to be a movie actor. You know, not let's 81 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:33,360 Speaker 2: take theater out of the equation. To be a movie 82 00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:35,640 Speaker 2: actress not that hard. You just have to be pretty 83 00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:37,000 Speaker 2: in the way the camera is most of the time 84 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:39,680 Speaker 2: any lines, and even then you don't need to know 85 00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:42,719 Speaker 2: your lines, you know, But to be a ballet singer 86 00:04:42,880 --> 00:04:46,800 Speaker 2: or an opera singer requires you must be absolute pinnacle. 87 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:50,559 Speaker 2: The training is arduous. I remember I did a job 88 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:55,920 Speaker 2: in Birmingham with Australian ballet dancers who'd gone to join 89 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:59,359 Speaker 2: the Birmingham Ballet and we were taking photos of these, 90 00:04:59,480 --> 00:05:01,840 Speaker 2: you know, these fellas, and you know, they looked amazing, 91 00:05:02,839 --> 00:05:06,560 Speaker 2: and he was the ballet dancer was looking at the 92 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:10,160 Speaker 2: four doors afterwards, and he kept saying, I wonder if 93 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:12,080 Speaker 2: we need to retake them, like my foot is not 94 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:14,280 Speaker 2: just quite right, and if my instructor sees that my 95 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:16,680 Speaker 2: foot wasn't quite rate. And that's Spectru and a newspaper 96 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:19,159 Speaker 2: and another say of the world, I'm going to be 97 00:05:19,160 --> 00:05:22,880 Speaker 2: in bake trouble. But is there probably a little bit 98 00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:27,280 Speaker 2: of end security that's come through the ballet and opera community. Probably. 99 00:05:27,960 --> 00:05:30,640 Speaker 3: I thought they were so shrill in response to Timothy 100 00:05:30,640 --> 00:05:33,080 Speaker 3: shall May that they kind of proved his point. It's 101 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:36,919 Speaker 3: interesting how present they are on TikTok and Instagram, and 102 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:40,159 Speaker 3: of course ballet in particular really lends itself to those 103 00:05:40,200 --> 00:05:41,159 Speaker 3: social media forms. 104 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:41,400 Speaker 4: Right. 105 00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:44,920 Speaker 3: These are gorgeous, young fit people doing amazing things. Yes, 106 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:48,120 Speaker 3: but the tone of those videos that I see anyway, 107 00:05:48,240 --> 00:05:50,520 Speaker 3: I don't know if this is just my algorithm, is 108 00:05:50,640 --> 00:05:52,040 Speaker 3: all about athleticism. 109 00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:53,920 Speaker 1: It's not really about art. 110 00:05:54,040 --> 00:05:56,560 Speaker 3: You see them doing forty five pirouettes in a row 111 00:05:56,800 --> 00:06:01,760 Speaker 3: or doing a challenging gay They're not really ever in 112 00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:05,919 Speaker 3: what I say, talking about the art that they're creating. 113 00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:08,960 Speaker 1: It's kind of like gymnastics with two tooth. 114 00:06:09,320 --> 00:06:12,640 Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, Claire, And I think a lot of especially 115 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:15,520 Speaker 2: the Bally videos that we're talking about, a lot of 116 00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:18,560 Speaker 2: them are a little bit sexualized, Let's be honest. I 117 00:06:18,600 --> 00:06:22,839 Speaker 2: think especially the male ballet dancers who are and usually 118 00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:26,839 Speaker 2: going towards a gay audience, and a lot of the 119 00:06:26,839 --> 00:06:30,080 Speaker 2: female ballet dancers too, going towards a you know, a 120 00:06:30,120 --> 00:06:33,040 Speaker 2: straight male audience and nine other women. You know, it 121 00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:36,200 Speaker 2: is it is about their bodies, you know, it is 122 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:38,880 Speaker 2: they're trying to see Bally is sexy. It is very 123 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:42,880 Speaker 2: much harder to do that with opera. Opera usually isn't sexy. 124 00:06:42,960 --> 00:06:46,520 Speaker 2: You know. We think of kind of you know, Dame 125 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:48,960 Speaker 2: John Sutherland and you know, God bless Our, you know, 126 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:52,520 Speaker 2: wonderful singer, but you know she wasn't Bridget Bardola. 127 00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:54,920 Speaker 3: I remember when the Three Tenors, you know, every so 128 00:06:55,080 --> 00:06:58,159 Speaker 3: often an opera act breakthrough, and when it was the 129 00:06:58,160 --> 00:07:00,520 Speaker 3: Three Tenors, it was like, my god, how's that Carreras 130 00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:01,239 Speaker 3: is the whole one? 131 00:07:01,440 --> 00:07:02,680 Speaker 1: You know, because he. 132 00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:07,120 Speaker 2: Was, you know, Pavarotti wasn't Robert Redford. You know. But 133 00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:10,440 Speaker 2: I am slightly more anti Timothy Shalomy than you are 134 00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:15,600 Speaker 2: because I do think it it represented from him a 135 00:07:15,720 --> 00:07:19,360 Speaker 2: lack of humility, which I think Timothy Shalomy has really 136 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:23,239 Speaker 2: come to represent. He's gotten too big for his boots. 137 00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:27,000 Speaker 2: I mean, you want to talk about a medium that's dying. 138 00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:30,680 Speaker 2: Are the movies not dying? Clear? You know, the profits 139 00:07:30,680 --> 00:07:34,320 Speaker 2: are absolutely through the toilet. You know, there's a couple 140 00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:38,120 Speaker 2: of heat outs. You know, Oppenheimer and Barbie were Beag Sinners, 141 00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:40,360 Speaker 2: which you know was obviously kind of the runner up 142 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:44,280 Speaker 2: of the Oscars. The Vampire movie did okay, but you 143 00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:47,520 Speaker 2: know it's not We're not talking about films that are 144 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:50,560 Speaker 2: part of a monoculture workiller conversation anymore. 145 00:07:50,600 --> 00:07:52,160 Speaker 3: I mean, every time I go to the cinema, I 146 00:07:52,240 --> 00:07:54,440 Speaker 3: kind of look for signs that the movies are not dying. 147 00:07:54,520 --> 00:07:56,960 Speaker 3: And because I got a lot of children's films, they're 148 00:07:56,960 --> 00:08:00,760 Speaker 3: definitely not dying. The state of cinema is both causing 149 00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:03,600 Speaker 3: and is then exacerbated by the sheer cost of going 150 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:06,200 Speaker 3: to the movies. Though Richard like, for two people to 151 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:08,160 Speaker 3: go to the cinema is a one hundred and fifty 152 00:08:08,200 --> 00:08:11,160 Speaker 3: dollars night out. Now for a family to go, it's 153 00:08:11,680 --> 00:08:14,280 Speaker 3: it's three hundred dollars if you're buying popcorn and drinks 154 00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:18,080 Speaker 3: and you know, tickets in a nice seat. So cinema 155 00:08:18,120 --> 00:08:21,320 Speaker 3: has priced itself into the territory of opera and ballet. 156 00:08:21,520 --> 00:08:23,680 Speaker 3: You know, you could go and see the Australian Ballet 157 00:08:23,800 --> 00:08:26,360 Speaker 3: for what a cost to see a blockbuster at Hoyts. 158 00:08:26,400 --> 00:08:28,960 Speaker 2: Now, that is exactly the problem the opera and ballet, 159 00:08:29,080 --> 00:08:32,040 Speaker 2: and to be honest, general theater, whether it be musicals, 160 00:08:32,400 --> 00:08:35,079 Speaker 2: are kind of street please are having at the moment. 161 00:08:36,480 --> 00:08:41,640 Speaker 2: Patty Lapaune, the Greek Broadway musical star, as an evangelist 162 00:08:41,720 --> 00:08:43,640 Speaker 2: on this she says, you need to mortgage your host 163 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:46,160 Speaker 2: to see a shore on Broadway. You may not need 164 00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:51,840 Speaker 2: to mortgage your host to see opera Australia, or a 165 00:08:51,880 --> 00:08:53,920 Speaker 2: play at the Semi Feir at a company, or see 166 00:08:53,960 --> 00:08:57,040 Speaker 2: a musical on Collins Street in Melbourne, but you probably 167 00:08:57,080 --> 00:09:00,640 Speaker 2: have to mortgage a small flat, you know which, speaking 168 00:09:00,679 --> 00:09:04,000 Speaker 2: of Samie and Melbourn's probably great expensive anyway, like this is, 169 00:09:04,640 --> 00:09:08,160 Speaker 2: the prices are extraordinary. But we do also have a 170 00:09:08,200 --> 00:09:14,520 Speaker 2: problem of, especially with opera in this country, of leezy thinking, 171 00:09:14,880 --> 00:09:18,000 Speaker 2: there's a lack of imagination. Claire, there are only so 172 00:09:18,160 --> 00:09:21,319 Speaker 2: many times I can see Carmen, and I love Carmen. 173 00:09:21,880 --> 00:09:28,280 Speaker 2: I love Carmen, but I don't need to see Carmen anymore. 174 00:09:29,640 --> 00:09:32,599 Speaker 3: I feel the same way about non musical forms of 175 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:35,200 Speaker 3: theater as well. Speaking as a fear to lover and 176 00:09:35,240 --> 00:09:37,959 Speaker 3: someone who absolutely loves going to see plays, I can't 177 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:39,880 Speaker 3: think of a play that I've seen in the past 178 00:09:39,960 --> 00:09:44,160 Speaker 3: decade that hasn't left me feeling bored and disappointed. There 179 00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:48,800 Speaker 3: are so many examples of classics being reworked to make 180 00:09:48,840 --> 00:09:51,320 Speaker 3: everybody for a lesbian. For example, that was a Chekhov 181 00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:53,640 Speaker 3: play that I saw a couple of years ago to 182 00:09:53,760 --> 00:09:57,800 Speaker 3: make male characters like Marc Anthony a woman, which is 183 00:09:57,840 --> 00:09:59,719 Speaker 3: what the Bell Shakespeare Company is doing right now with 184 00:09:59,760 --> 00:10:00,640 Speaker 3: your liesa. 185 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:02,480 Speaker 1: I mean, it feels like they've run out of a 186 00:10:02,600 --> 00:10:03,079 Speaker 1: das to me. 187 00:10:03,720 --> 00:10:13,720 Speaker 2: Michael Fassbender made a film of Macbeth about ten years ago. Now, well, 188 00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:20,080 Speaker 2: my best I shall be king hereafter. And a rather 189 00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:23,400 Speaker 2: famous actor who will remain nameless said to me Michael 190 00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:26,560 Speaker 2: Fassbender said, I was making Macbeth and I said, how 191 00:10:26,559 --> 00:10:28,080 Speaker 2: are you going to do it? And he said to 192 00:10:28,120 --> 00:10:31,120 Speaker 2: this actor, well, I've got this really radical idea. I'm 193 00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:33,240 Speaker 2: going to set it in Scotland and kind of you know, 194 00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:38,720 Speaker 2: the thirteen hundreds. And that's and that is true. It 195 00:10:38,760 --> 00:10:43,600 Speaker 2: is now essentially impossible to do Shakespeare with swords and 196 00:10:43,679 --> 00:10:48,000 Speaker 2: sandals and you know, humpbacks, etc. And it goes either way. 197 00:10:48,160 --> 00:10:51,520 Speaker 2: You know, you've seen this new trend which I absolutely hate, 198 00:10:52,240 --> 00:10:54,640 Speaker 2: and the importance of being earn as bioscar Wild where 199 00:10:54,720 --> 00:10:57,560 Speaker 2: Lady Bracknell has played as a drag character, has played 200 00:10:57,640 --> 00:11:00,520 Speaker 2: essentially as a pantomime Dane, and I just hate that 201 00:11:00,559 --> 00:11:05,880 Speaker 2: because Lady Bracknell is such a female character. It's such 202 00:11:05,920 --> 00:11:10,000 Speaker 2: a such a woman, such a woman, and so I 203 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:12,840 Speaker 2: can't look. Sometimes it works, well, I don't think it's 204 00:11:12,840 --> 00:11:15,959 Speaker 2: completely wrong for you know, obviously one of the greatest 205 00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:20,360 Speaker 2: roles that is often played by a woman in Shakespeare 206 00:11:20,440 --> 00:11:22,599 Speaker 2: is Richard the Second, which is very hard for a 207 00:11:22,640 --> 00:11:25,080 Speaker 2: woman to do because essentially Richard the Second is a 208 00:11:25,200 --> 00:11:28,560 Speaker 2: very fay gay man. Well what we would call a 209 00:11:28,600 --> 00:11:30,960 Speaker 2: gay man today. You wouldn't call it a gay man 210 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:33,480 Speaker 2: in Shakespeare's time, but a very fay man. But you know, 211 00:11:33,720 --> 00:11:36,080 Speaker 2: Fionna shaded an amazing performance of that kind in the 212 00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:39,240 Speaker 2: early nineties. But Kate Blanchett is, you know, renowned for 213 00:11:39,280 --> 00:11:42,320 Speaker 2: her Richard the Second that she did about you know, 214 00:11:42,360 --> 00:11:45,920 Speaker 2: fifteen or sixteen years ago, for the Sydney Fear of Company. 215 00:11:46,160 --> 00:11:48,600 Speaker 2: It can be done, but you're right, Claire, it is. 216 00:11:49,040 --> 00:11:51,679 Speaker 2: It's everything in the Fear at the moment is tokenistic. 217 00:11:52,440 --> 00:11:57,360 Speaker 2: It's lazy. It's appealing to a wokeness that quite frankly 218 00:11:57,440 --> 00:11:58,439 Speaker 2: has gone out of fashion. 219 00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:08,480 Speaker 4: Now you will be watched over Vinyl together. 220 00:12:08,520 --> 00:12:09,160 Speaker 2: Different King. 221 00:12:11,440 --> 00:12:16,640 Speaker 3: Timothy Chalamay was in an adaptation of Shakespeare to shakespeare 222 00:12:16,640 --> 00:12:18,400 Speaker 3: plays Henry the Fourth and Henry the Fifth that I 223 00:12:18,400 --> 00:12:21,160 Speaker 3: thought was much more original than anything anyone else has 224 00:12:21,160 --> 00:12:24,079 Speaker 3: done recently. It's called The King, where he played the 225 00:12:24,640 --> 00:12:27,600 Speaker 3: young Prince how kind of growing up and becoming this 226 00:12:27,720 --> 00:12:30,920 Speaker 3: Warrior King. It wasn't very faithful to the Shakespeare play. 227 00:12:31,120 --> 00:12:33,559 Speaker 3: It emerged a lot of storylines, things were done differently. 228 00:12:33,679 --> 00:12:37,080 Speaker 3: Robert Pattinson played the French King brilliantly, I thought, but 229 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:42,280 Speaker 3: it was taking the combination of British history and Shakespeare's 230 00:12:42,320 --> 00:12:47,240 Speaker 3: interpretation and then reinterpreting it again to actually be original. 231 00:12:47,960 --> 00:12:50,400 Speaker 3: That was a movie where he announced himself as a 232 00:12:50,400 --> 00:12:52,000 Speaker 3: serious actor. I think you could tell that because he 233 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:56,160 Speaker 3: had a terrible haircut. But it didn't do as well 234 00:12:56,160 --> 00:13:00,600 Speaker 3: at the box office as say Dune or Wonka, the 235 00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:03,120 Speaker 3: more crowd playing movies that he's done. And this is 236 00:13:03,160 --> 00:13:05,680 Speaker 3: the issue for Opera and balle really, isn't it. They 237 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:09,400 Speaker 3: cannot exist anymore without massive government subsidies. 238 00:13:09,760 --> 00:13:12,480 Speaker 2: They can't exist without massive government subsidies. The other thing 239 00:13:12,520 --> 00:13:15,360 Speaker 2: that Opera Australia has tried to do is essentially every 240 00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:17,880 Speaker 2: year they do a blockbuster musical, they do a Guys 241 00:13:17,920 --> 00:13:21,560 Speaker 2: and Dolls, they do West Side Story and by the way, 242 00:13:21,559 --> 00:13:23,920 Speaker 2: most of the times they do these quite well, not brilliantly, 243 00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:26,480 Speaker 2: not as well as they do. You know Madam Barfly, 244 00:13:26,600 --> 00:13:29,440 Speaker 2: I mean I saw Madam Barfly at the Sydney Harbor 245 00:13:29,679 --> 00:13:32,040 Speaker 2: and it's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, Like 246 00:13:32,120 --> 00:13:35,840 Speaker 2: it's extraordinary. It's as good as anything I've ever seen 247 00:13:35,840 --> 00:13:38,880 Speaker 2: in the West Ender or Broadway. But you know, Amy 248 00:13:38,960 --> 00:13:41,959 Speaker 2: Lane has been announced as the new director of Opera 249 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:44,720 Speaker 2: for Opera Australia just in the past week, and you 250 00:13:44,760 --> 00:13:47,360 Speaker 2: know she has a massive task. Opera Australia has been 251 00:13:47,400 --> 00:13:52,360 Speaker 2: recycling through people. It's it's got a ten million dollar deficit. 252 00:13:52,520 --> 00:13:55,360 Speaker 2: It is in a real crisis, and it's in a 253 00:13:55,400 --> 00:14:00,160 Speaker 2: crisis because it's not performing at an international height. It's 254 00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:04,520 Speaker 2: not it's not doing very well, like it's not putting 255 00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:06,199 Speaker 2: on good enough shows. 256 00:14:06,600 --> 00:14:09,560 Speaker 3: There's a mood in opera and ballet to reach down 257 00:14:09,760 --> 00:14:12,840 Speaker 3: to the math audience which they had in the seventeen 258 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:14,959 Speaker 3: hundreds and the eighteen hundreds, of course, when it was 259 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:18,920 Speaker 3: the only form of entertainment. But the only ideas they 260 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:21,520 Speaker 3: have are three hundred year old ideas. 261 00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:23,320 Speaker 2: One hundred percent. And I think the same could be 262 00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:26,400 Speaker 2: said of the theater. They've just announced on the West 263 00:14:26,520 --> 00:14:29,360 Speaker 2: End that Gillian Anderson is going to do Who's Afraid 264 00:14:29,400 --> 00:14:32,560 Speaker 2: of Virginia Wolf. Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf is one 265 00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:35,479 Speaker 2: of the greatest plays ever written in the history of mankind. 266 00:14:35,840 --> 00:14:40,120 Speaker 2: It is a brilliant play. We have seen it, Claire, 267 00:14:40,400 --> 00:14:43,800 Speaker 2: we have seen Who's Afraid of Virgenua Wolf. Now look, 268 00:14:43,800 --> 00:14:46,600 Speaker 2: there's a brilliant production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf 269 00:14:46,680 --> 00:14:49,240 Speaker 2: with the greatest Gerian actress, Catch Durrett, that's been touring 270 00:14:49,280 --> 00:14:51,800 Speaker 2: and that that's fabulous. And we want to keep the 271 00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:55,160 Speaker 2: classics alive. I don't want Shakespeare to disappear. I don't 272 00:14:55,200 --> 00:14:57,880 Speaker 2: want Chekhov to disappear. I don't want Absen to disappear. 273 00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:02,920 Speaker 2: I don't want Australian classics to disappear. And I have 274 00:15:03,040 --> 00:15:05,720 Speaker 2: great fear of that. You know, there was recently red 275 00:15:05,800 --> 00:15:09,760 Speaker 2: Stach Theater in Melbourne Dead and the kind of trilogy 276 00:15:09,800 --> 00:15:13,400 Speaker 2: that includes Summer of the Seventeenth Doll. And we don't 277 00:15:13,400 --> 00:15:15,560 Speaker 2: want some of the Seventeenth Doll to die, and we 278 00:15:15,600 --> 00:15:18,240 Speaker 2: don't want Don's Party to die. And it's the scene 279 00:15:18,240 --> 00:15:22,000 Speaker 2: with the opera. But there's a way of being inventive 280 00:15:22,760 --> 00:15:29,440 Speaker 2: without being torkenastic walk and going to the lowest common denominator. 281 00:15:30,040 --> 00:15:35,520 Speaker 3: Richard Ferguson is the Australian's most opinionated theater expert thanks Richard. 282 00:15:35,840 --> 00:15:36,480 Speaker 2: Thanks Claria. 283 00:15:39,720 --> 00:15:42,440 Speaker 3: You can read all the best coverage of opera, ballet 284 00:15:42,600 --> 00:15:46,200 Speaker 3: and the movies anytime at the Australian dot com a you. 285 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:47,640 Speaker 1: This episode of. 286 00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:50,720 Speaker 3: The Front was hosted and produced by me Claire Harvey 287 00:15:50,760 --> 00:15:54,560 Speaker 3: and edited by Joshua Burton. Jasper Leik wrote our theme. 288 00:15:54,760 --> 00:15:56,720 Speaker 3: Thanks for joining us on the Front this week. Our 289 00:15:56,760 --> 00:16:01,240 Speaker 3: team includes Kristin Amiot, Lea Samaglu and Tiffany Dimac.